effectivelywildfandomcom-20200215-history
Episode 950: The Triple-A Chemistry Edition
Date September 7, 2016 Summary Ben and Sam banter about Yasiel Puig’s clubhouse qualities, Giancarlo Stanton’s comeback, and Anthony Rizzo vs. Wily Peralta, then answer listener emails about Kershaw and Trout, the Hall of Fame, roster sizes, young cores and more. Topics * Hall of Fame election exceptions * Specialization of player development in the minor leagues * Trading for Clayton Kershaw * Impact of expanded September rosters * Unlimited roster size * Comparing young cores of the Red Sox and Cubs * Worst ways to lose a perfect game Intro The Last Shadow Puppets, "The Element of Surprise" Outro Family of the Year, "In the End" Banter * Jose De Leon's comments about Yasiel Puig and his impact on team chemistry * Sam wonders if Yasiel Puig has what he calls 'Triple-A chemistry', where Puig has a more positive impact on the clubhouse when he didn't have as big a spotlight on himself. * Giancarlo Stanton was activated from the DL earlier than expected. * Anthony Rizzo hit two home runs off Wily Peralta. Email Questions * John: "To be eligible for the Hall of Fame a player has to play in 10 seasons. A few guys I can find have played only 10, but to my knowledge the only time the Hall has elected someone who played fewer than 10 were Addie Joss and some of the players who came over from the Negro Leagues. These are obviously special cases for different reasons but it got me thinking. Assuming a player was not barred from playing and did not meet a tragic end, how good would that player have to be to elected to the hall after playing a career of under 10 years? If Mike Trout retired tomorrow after only 6 years would the hall waive its requirement to enshrine him anyways?" * Andrew: "Let's say that the Pirates were to decide to go all in on Ray Seerage. They vow to turn their entire minor league system into a pitching factory. They trade all relevant position player prospects for pitchers, abandon hitting and fielding coaches at all minor league levels, and stock their entire system with pitchers and pitching coaches. Games are played by good defender/good clubhouse guys filling out the lineup card and they plan on simply trading from their excess for good hitting. Do you think this would work? Would hyper specialization at the minor league level produce more prospects of value than divesting their interests across many positions?" * Eric (Milbrae, CA): "Following up on the discussion about the best way for the Rockies to get a Cy Young winner, my first thought was to just trade for Kershaw. And yet you both danced past that as if it were a complete impossibility. Is it really the case that the Rockies could not acquire Kershaw, even if it was their only goal and they put every organizational resource behind it? What if they offered the Dodgers their top 20 minor league prospects, and major league players they wanted plus any cash allowable? A broader question, how many MLB teams could have acquired Kershaw before the deadline if it was their only goal?" * Rich: "What do you think would happen if restrictions on the 25 man roster were removed at the MLB level? There would still be roster restrictions at the minor league level but what positions would be added to the bench? Would it just be a bunch of extra relievers and one out specialists? At what point would there not be enough talent for these extra roster spots? After five years, what would be the average size of a MLB roster?" * Peter (Champaign, IL): "My question today: Which team's core of young position players would you rather have for the next 3, 5, and 10 years? The Cubs or the Red Sox?" * Kyle: "What is the worst way to lose a perfect game?" Play Index * Sam uses the Play Index to look into the impact of September call-ups. * Going back to 2012, many more teams that use 22 or more players in a game will make the playoffs rather than miss the playoffs. * There is approximately one game every two years in which a team in September uses more than 26 players in a game. Notes * In 37 career plate appearances against Wily Peralta, Anthony Rizzo has 7 home runs and a 1.818 OPS. * Sam thinks that the ten year minimum for the Hall of Fame will be waived "as soon as it needs to be". * In Episode 348 there was a similar question about electing players to the Hall of Fame with under 10 years of service time. * Clayton Kershaw has a contract clause that if he is traded he becomes a free agent the following offseason. * Games increase in length by about 6 minutes during September. * Sam thinks that the worst way to lose a perfect game would be a runner reaching on a dropped third strike in the final at-bat. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 950: The Triple-A Chemistry Edition Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes